Reuters revealed that a document from the EU Commission expected to be published today, will add Myanmar and other countries to an existing money laundering blacklist.

Under the draft proposal, the Commission added Panama, the Bahamas, Mauritius, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Jamaica, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nicaragua and Zimbabwe to its list of countries that “pose significant threats to the financial system of the Union” because of failings in tackling money laundering and terrorism financing.

Banks and other financial and tax firms will be obliged to scrutinize more closely their clients who have dealings with these countries. Companies in listed states are also banned from receiving new EU funding.

The higher scrutiny will only apply from October, the document says, due to disruptions caused by the current coronavirus pandemic. The European Commission aims to intensify its scrutiny of states posing money-laundering risks, and is looking into creating a new body to help police financial crime and monitor banks more strictly.